Forest product exports hit $3.43 billion in first five months

Head of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VAF) Nguyen Quoc Tri said as of May 24, export revenue of forest products achieved $663 million in May alone, said VAF yesterday in its press release.

Workers are processing wooden products for export (photo: SGGP)

Forest product exports in May helps bringing the country's export revenue of forestry products in first five months to grow by 8.7 percent compared to same period last year rising to $3.43 billion meanwhile the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) has estimated that the country’s total seafood export turnover in the first four months reached US$2.4 billion.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development affirmed value of forestry exports account for 22 percent of the agriculture sector’s total export revenue.

Nguyen Quoc Tri said the US, China, Japan and South Korea are four leading markets of Vietnam in first five months this year.

To boost export of forest products, the Ministry is promoting planting trees and protecting forests. In May, forest rangers and local authorities detected 1,200 violations of forest management.

However, in comparison to the same period last year, the cases dropped by 31 percent because the Secretarial Board has issued the decree No. 13-CT/TW stipulating that the heads of forest ranger station and local administrators will be held accountable for deforestation.

As a result, authorities send people to protect forest in a bid to curb sales and transportation of wood.